adr:
Not a very good pic, took out of a old mag’, goes with previous Whitle pic, maybe someone will recognise either of thease gents?
I have never read the book Juggernaut by Robert Hutchison, so i’m not familiar with the two names mentioned. The one nearest the camera is the spitting image of Steve Clark who was a driver with Peterlea Trucking of Braintree. The silver arrow painted on the tilt cover is also similar to one of Peterlea’s tilts. Perhaps someone else can give their opinion. regards Jamie.
M&C Jamie:
I have never read the book Juggernaut by Robert Hutchison, so i’m not familiar with the two names mentioned. The one nearest the camera is the spitting image of Steve Clark who was a driver with Peterlea Trucking of Braintree. The silver arrow painted on the tilt cover is also similar to one of Peterlea’s tilts. Perhaps someone else can give their opinion. regards Jamie.
Jamie,
I have been looking at that picture since it was posted and been thinking the very same thing, and the chap behind looks like John Dunphy, you remember him ■■ The Irishman with the wonky eyes, i never knew which one to look at when i was chatting to him, a nicer chap you could not wish to meet.
I had an e-mail from John a few days ago, he is back in Spain now although his small golf instruction business is not doing very well due to no bugger is going there now. He said he may well visit here this year for a month or three and see if he can find work in that same field as golf is very popular here.
All the best for 2012 Jamie, and please my regards onto Betty too.
Hi Steve, Happy New Year to you. yes i do remember John Dunphy,but i have not spoken to him in many years, good to here he is still well. I dont recognise the other person in the photo, but then it is a bit vague.
brenic’s was asking about the Scania roof , but if you look closer it is not a high roof ,but a uk hatcher type of name/sign board.
davnic, The Syrian bonneted merc’s could be seen occasionally as far north/west as Romania with fridges. the Iran’is quite often in Austria. I have seen syrian road trains in Moscow in the nineties. regards Jamie
Hi Davnic
I remember seeing some Kuwaiti regd bonneted Mercs with fridges in Istanbul on several occasions, They had big signwriting on the side of the fridge, I’m sure someone else on here will have seen them too ! I know Istanbul isnt that far west, but its not that far East either !!
There is a Lebanese 1928 bonneted Merc for sale on one of the trucks for sale websites. In Belgium, so atleast one must have made it that far !!
And as if by magic, here it is…
Notice the 1200x24 wheels and tyres have been replaced with European spec 12225 tyres and 20 inch rims.
Complete with Saudi Transit Plate bracket.
And below is a Jordanian pulling a tanker.
GS
Yes Jamie, the second figure is a bit vague in the picture, and i have no doubt that Endit may well be correct if he is familier with the story behind the pic.
But it sure does look like Stevie and the chap behind is very much like John, you never saw him without a shirt, always wore a tee as in the pic, the glasses, prominent nose and the brushed across hairstyle all fits so well. Maybe one day another picture will surface…
I went up country last week to visit Chris Everitt as it was his birthday, had a few drinks and a bite to eat, Archie Paice was also there staying at Chriss’s place for a few days during his holiday here in Thailand.
Happy New Year To All
Just to keep the thread going I had a freind over with his kids for a few days ,and they spotted that Eddie Stobart was on the telly can we watch they said OK I said ,Im sorry but it made me cringe ,this so called veteran ,who had ammased 700000 miles in driving (not very much)and was supposed to be the cream driver ,took a wrong turning ,and got lost even with a SAT NAV,as he tried to turn the truck round he got stuck in the snow then started crying at the camera man not to film,what a pussey,I would have kicked the camera man out and given him the shovel,oops whats one of them.
My freinds son then piped in Roger My dad told me you got lost once is that true,yes I said,I was on one of my early trips ,and on the way back through Syria I took a wrong turn in Homs as the road was blocked ,after 15 mins I knew I was in the s.h.i.t .as the houses turned into shacks with tin roofs with no place to turn I had to carry on ,onother10 mins and I came to a large pole accross the road with oil barrels on either side ,and solders like You find in lebanon ,yes thats exactly wher I was on the border ,but what made me feel so stupid was I hadnt seen another truck on this road and it never clicked,but these guys were realy great allowed me in to turn round ,gave me tea, and asked if I wanted to buy 5kilo of lebanese black cannibus,an arab then asked if I was going to Homs and the guard told him he must put me on the right road out of Homs ,bit more fun that Stobarts drivers will ever get
Stobbart drivers are conductors, no initiative. Gulfies were the guys who said “Ho, hum! Let’s see what happens…”
O.K. It wasn’t the ultimate place to take risks, but a bit of common sense, and politeness, and it worked…
Everyone is so rude these days and it is counter-productive.
I was brought up on the reasoning that manners cost nothing, but get so much back in return!
M&C Jamie,GS Overland and DaveMackie - Thanks for the info and pictures.
I’ve always liked these bonneted Merc units as i imagine them to be real workhorses that were constantly patched up and just kept on going.
For some reason,i always imagined them to be small in stature compared to other marques but the photo of the two guys standing in front of one proves they were a big unit as do other details like the size of the diesel tanks and,as pointed out,the wheels.
With the engine in front,would the cab have been a flat floor and therefore reasonably spacious?
I am not sure if anyone was aware of losing Jim Hacking after he fell off a roof, he was disabled for 4 months before his death around September last year.
More about him on the F89 thread bearing his registration number.
Hi Roger, H N Y to you, just to pick up on your comments on Mr Stobarts drivers I have posted this story on another thread but it just shows that most of them are out of their depth out side of the UK. Anyway back in 2008 when Jenson Button won the world championship with Brawn GP the race transporter drivers were supplied by Stobarts as all the teams now have relief truckies, most of them like myself having worked in F1 before.
Going into Monaco all the trucks have to go in in a certain order so we all park up just off the Autoroute at the top of the hill so while we are waiting there three of Eddie’s finest arrive together with brand new Merc tractor units also supplied by Stobarts,
; now the road into the parking area is a steep concrete one and the back of the trailers like a supercube are very low so everybody lifted the air on the units and trailers to stop them bottoming out when it leveled out sharply. Not so Eddie’s finest who proceded to drag them down using the ferry tie down points as skids, bearing in mind there are two drivers per truck how difficult is it to adjust the air while the truck is creeping forward. A couple of the drivers admitted that this was only their second trip out of the UK; why did Stobart’s not use drivers with previous experience with these trucks, maybe the answer lies in the fact that they were only paying £80 a day plus N/O money and they had to sleep in the trucks until they were parked up in the paddock whereas all other teams were paying around £180-200 plus a hotel every night. Sorry to go off thread a little but when you consider some of the problems we used to encounter such as breakdowns in the middle of nowhere or delays and other problems at borders you can’t just pick up the cabphone and the office sends someone to sort it out.
Charlie
Chazzer, it ain’t just Stobarts though, 90% of drivers now are the same, unless it’s on a set of printed instructions they ain’t got a clue, the worrying thing is not that they can’t do it, it’s that they won’t do it
newmercman:
Chazzer, it ain’t just Stobarts though, 90% of drivers now are the same, unless it’s on a set of printed instructions they ain’t got a clue, the worrying thing is not that they can’t do it, it’s that they won’t do it
The lack of common sense, and the lack of capacity to think freely . without consulting a document from an idiot who can’t reverse a car is both sad and deppressing.
Can you image sending a robo-droid to the middle east now, wittering about digi-tach’s and being an utter jobsworth? Probably never get past the E.U. borders, due to a complete lack of imagination, although this is partly the fault of transport companies being dull , unimaginative and cheap!
The big corporate entities playing at “Logistics” are the worst thing that ever happened to road transport, as for the most part they have an impersonnal view of the job, and view drivers like so many replaceable limited memory sticks to be thrown away and discarded when the slightest flaw appears.
Remember “The Prisoner” -“I am am not a number! I am a free man!” Sorry, pal… Just how many numbers do you have again? National insurance, driving licence, digitach, driver CPC…
And for what? The reassurance that you could lose your job with extreme prejudice from some arse head who cowers when a diesel engine gurgles into life? Pleuegh…
Davnic:
M&C Jamie,GS Overland and DaveMackie - Thanks for the info and pictures.
I’ve always liked these bonneted Merc units as i imagine them to be real workhorses that were constantly patched up and just kept on going.
For some reason,i always imagined them to be small in stature compared to other marques but the photo of the two guys standing in front of one proves they were a big unit as do other details like the size of the diesel tanks and,as pointed out,the wheels.
With the engine in front,would the cab have been a flat floor and therefore reasonably spacious?
More cramped than you would expect, with 240 BHP engines as a rule, and assembled in Saudi, but with Over-size tyres, so tall, and often abused to the point that 65 tons was a fairly regular load. seen every where from Syria to Yemen, but very rarely by the side of the road!
I used to run quite often with some Lebanese drivers that I befriended. We would leave Homs together and run right through to Kuwait or part company at Salwa if they were going to Dubai and me to Doha.
Great lads and I never once knew of them breaking down in those old Mercs. They used to really motor on too !!
Here is one, My friend Ahmed Suwail, on the TAPLine.
chazzer:
I am assuming the bonnet is on the safety catch to allow better cooling!!!
Yeah,most of them ran with the bonnet cracked open for extra cooling.
Also it was quite usual to see some with a piece of pink gauze across the grille to stop flying insects getting into the radiator.
Here’s a Lebanese truck,double drive, with 30 tonnes of timber on at Ramtha,running from Lebanon to Saudi.When crossing the desert at H4 never saw one of these bogged down yet!
